Martin Luther King Jr. in Boston

April 23, 1967: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. smiled and spoke with a reporter ignoring shouting picketers in Cambridge as he launched an antiwar campaign called Vietnam Summer. King was seeking 10,000 volunteers to spend the summer organizing a peace campaign across the country. He believed the Vietnam War had hurt the civil rights drive because it had diverted attention and sidetracked antipoverty funds.
Boston Globe Archives

Martin Luther King Jr. in Boston

April 22, 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told a joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature that segregation must die if America and democracy are to live. Spectators stood in the packed gallery and some legislators used camp stools on the crowded House floor. King said he came to the Bay State not to condemn but to encourage. He traced the birth of liberty here and warned "that from these halls liberty must be preserved."

Paul J. Connell/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 22, 1965: The wife of the Rev. Virgil Woods (not visible) presented a flower to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Woods and his son, Bobby Woods, were also in the crowd around King.

Paul J. Connell/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 22, 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. used a bullhorn to address the crowd at the Patrick T. Campbell Middle School in Roxbury. On segregation he told the crowd, "This is not a battle of white people against black people. It is a struggle between the forces of justice and injustice."

Joseph Runci/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 22, 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. listened to Betty Jennings of Roxbury talk about the problems of living in a run-down apartment building, with broken windows and vermin infestation. After Jennings told King how her baby had become ill twice when the heat was turned off, he declared, "This housing is deplorable. It is an outrage to society."

Paul J. Connell/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 23, 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was at the center of the mile-long column of marchers walking from Roxbury to Boston Common. The march left the Carter Playground in Roxbury and ended at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common. King spoke for about 25 minutes in a chilling drizzle to the crowd estimated at 22,000. "Now is the time," he said "to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to make brotherhood a reality. Now is the time."

Edward F. Carr/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 23, 1967: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. smiled and spoke with a reporter ignoring shouting picketers in Cambridge as he launched an antiwar campaign called Vietnam Summer. King was seeking 10,000 volunteers to spend the summer organizing a peace campaign across the country. He believed the Vietnam War had hurt the civil rights drive because it had diverted attention and sidetracked antipoverty funds.

Boston Globe Archives
| January 16, 2013

April 5, 1968: Outrage at the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in unrest in many US cities, including Boston. Blue Hill Avenue, shown here, was the site of some demonstrations and vandalism.

Thomas E. Landers/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 5, 1968: City Councilor Thomas Atkins, left, and Boston Mayor Kevin White, right, spoke with entertainer James Brown at the Boston Garden. It was one day after the assassination of King and there was concern that the James Brown concert at the Boston Garden could create further unrest in the city. A decision was made to televise the concert so that Brown could be widely heard and yet the assembly of a large crowd could be avoided. During the introduction of Mayor White, Brown interjected saying,"Just say he's a cool swinging cat."

Bob Dean/Globe Staff
| January 16, 2013

April 5, 1968: A mourner held a placard as thousands massed on Boston Common opposite the State House to pay tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.